Rating: 
Summary: Surpisingly Complete and Ultimately Satisfying
Review: I approached this novel with some degree of trepidation, because I had heard mixed word-of-mouth reviews, and was wondering how Harris could possibly match (let alone top) his previous Lecter novels. I must say though that as I read Hannibal, skepticism faded into surprise and surprise was eventually replaced by a sense of delight and satisfaction. What this novel made me realize is that--his ability to portray psychological horror aside--Harris is a first-class writer, with a sure and certain touch in creating sustained dialogue, and a highly evocative, almost poetic gift for creating setting and scene. The only gripe I have is with some of his characters. Unlike the previous two novels, Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, some of Hannibal's characters are overdrawn and extreme, and Harris labors too hard to illustrate how they came to be the way they are. The bureaucrat Krendler, who despises Clarice Starling and has done everything possible to ruin her career, is a case in point. It is enough to know that he's a petty, small-minded cretin, and Harris didn't need to trace all Krendler's problems to the fact he couldn't get it up on his first try back in high school. That's just overly-simplistic, and Harris sells himself short in trying to bring it off. This need to over-explain carries over into Lecter himself, because in Hannibal we are finally exposed to the traumatic "event" that supposedly triggered the doctor's pathological behavior. It works reasonably well, but why not just leave Lecter as a symbol of "motiveless malignancy," of the inexplicable presence of evil in the world? That said, everything else is perfect. Harris's evocation of Florence is magnificent, and the Florence section as a whole is incredibly successful. It's amazing how, throughout the novel, Harris's love for and knowledge of art, music and cuisine holds so much of the description and action together. A lot of people have criticized the ending, but I think it's the most brilliant, and apt, aspect of the novel. Instead of reducing the novel to what we all expect--a final showdown between Lecter and Starling, from which only one can emerge alive--Harris presents us with a scenario that is surprising in the extreme but psychologically true to the character of both Lecter and Starling. The fact that Harris avoided the kind of ending everyone wanted/expected shows that as a writer, he is a cut above the horde of psychological horror writers out there. As with Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, you won't be able to do much else with your time but read voraciously once you're started. It's an incredible ride, and you'll want to read it again once you're finished, just to see if Harris telegraphed the incredible ending somewhere earlier in the novel. I just hope we don't have to wait another ten years to hear from Harris again.
Rating:
Summary: Listen eagerly,but dare not to close your eyes!
Review: Thomas Harris could so easily have returned us to Clarice Starling, seven years later, to find her the successful FBI agent riding shotgun to a sage-like Jack Crawford,catching Hannibal Lecter after a crisis of conscience along the way and riding off into the sunset waving a righteous law enforcement flag,If that is what you want- read something by John Grisham. I enjoyed Hannibal without reservation,thankfully unpredictable, well read by Daniel Gerroll(I have'nt heard the abridged version read by the Author to compare-I did'nt want to miss a single word!)Enjoy this story by candlelight and a nice chianti, but don't expect to sleep......
Rating: 
Summary: wait for the movie. better- don't bother with that, either.
Review: just me, or was this written like a screenplay, with scenes blocked out and camera directions. i guess Harris saw as a forgone conclusion that this latest book would be turned into a movie. what a sellout...
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: I anxiously awaited Hannibal. I was completely drwn into the dynamic between Lector and Starling in Silence of the Lambs and my return to Harris' work was yearning for moreof it. What I found instead was a story that stretched one's imagination to a breaking point. I find it unsettling that the relationship between Starling and Lector turned into such a disturbing fettish. That goes upstream against anything and everything we learned about her in the Silence. Perhaps if Starling's character played more than an afterthought role in the book, it could have developed into a beleivable scenerio. As it is, the relationship is simply false. I found Hannibal a dissapointing and goulish read.
Rating:
Summary: A Patchwork Plot Goes for the Grossout
Review: The story itself felt like a poorly-stitched quilt. Every story segment seemed to be a setup for a set piece grossout scene. This was a story virtually devoid of the psychological tension done so well in Silence of the Lambs, that went, unerringly, for the easiest of targets: the Grossout, as Stephen King calls it. Starling has turned out to be a big, whining crybaby, and the outcome of her and Lector's relationship has got to be the hands-down award winner for Biggest Waste of Good Characters. I finished it because I always like to finish what I started, unlike Harris. I have no way of knowing, but this book felt to me like someone with a bad case of writer's block just blowing out words onto the page and then selling them for zillions of dollars. If I were you, I'd avoid this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, just different
Review: I really really enjoyed the first two. But this one hannibal is free and able to do what he wants, not what Starling wants. So hannibal drives throughout this one. Dark and morbid, and still suspenseful. Good read. Just not his best.
Rating:
Summary: Jodi was right
Review: Upon hearing Jodi Foster wanted nothing to do with the next Hannibal movie, I was initally disappointed. Then I read the book. Where is the Harris who thrilled me through Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs? After shooting this dog full of holes, I am afraid to re-read those classics, fearing I might find fault with them. Have I become more sophisticated, or has Harris sold out? I fear the latter. The premise was unconvincing and contrived. I specifically requested this book as a gift and would like to publicly ask her forgiveness for money wasted!
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: I couldn't believe this book. It was so fascinating until the last few chapters. I couldn't put it down, it was so interesting and pretty quickly-paced, too. But then ending was utterly preposterous, and replete with atrocities that were neither scary nor humorous, even in the black-comedy fashion they were meant to be. It was just too twisted and sick to be frightening OR funny. The ending ruined the entire novel, which I had been really enjoying up until that point. Explaining why the character of Lecter was the way he was, interested me, but then to push it SO far over the top and change Starling's character completely, was the author's disastrous mistake, in my opinion. I would have given it five stars but the ending brings it down to 3. Kind of sad and a major disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing....Painful Even...Don't Bother.
Review: This book was a big disappointment to me. I usually have a high tolerance for bad writing and giant plot gaps in thrillers. They're beach reads - I'm not expecting Hemmingway. However, this book really pushed the limits of my tolerance. I've enjoyed some of the author's other books, so I expected it to be a fast-paced, nice escape from the daily grind. Instead, I got a painfully slow, unbearably boring tome. Part of the problem is that these characters are familiar to you from his other book (not to mention a good movie adaptation). What they do in this story is not credible - or interesting. Don't buy it just because you liked the first one...better off finding something else.
Rating:
Summary: Hannibal
Review: What a disappointment! It lacks any of the intense physiological horror we had anticipated. Maybe we'd been spoiled by Silence of the Lambs, but this sequal is slow,tedious, far-fetched and seems its only connection to its predecessor is the character's names! Too bad, it had such potential.If it was just any horror book I'd give it a "C", but as the sequal to a master...don't bother!
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